tavis: good evening. from los angeles, i am tavis smiley. tonight, a conversation with larry king. he started his career back in the 1950's and has found new ways to stay relevant. he cofounded a digital broadcast entity which airs his two series. a conversation with a man who just about defined the art of tv interviewing, larry king, coming up right now.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. if i started listing all the complements of larry king, we would never have time for a conversation. after nearly 60 years in broadcasting, he is still reinventing himself or new generations. of a the new cofounder

digital service that hosts to do view of his series. let's take a look at an outtake from his recent conversation with the dalai lama as they joked around as larry was introducing his wife. >> oh, the wife is here. [laughter] we are going to take pictures right after. >> yes. >> you're going to take a picture with her. >> i would like to see you closely. looks much younger. >> she is much younger. >> looks like your daughter. [laughter] sorry, sorry, sorry,. alai.anks, d tavis: the dalai lama's got

jokes? >> he has a sense of humor. he is very humble. he is always fun. tavis: let me go from something that is fun to something not so fun. i see wearing a black shirt. is that your way of telling us that you like like people, unlike mr. sterling? >> i was going to take a black person to a clippers game. when my kids went to the playoffs, i had them wear black shirts instead of the customary clippers shirts. in 2014 tork day have someone who actually thinks that way. conversationrivate of taping. it is illegal and there is a california law against it. but -- there is a big but. so she was wrong to tape, but

that conversation -- to conversations that they played over different tapes. different outlets played different tapes. abominable is the only thing i could say. tavis: knowing that you are going to be on the show, about all of these similar incidents that you have covered in your years of broadcasting, there is a whole lot of -- i don't even want to run down names but so many people have gotten themselves in trouble on tape, being overheard offering racist, anti-semitic comments. after all the years of being in the broadcast business and hearing these things and covering them, how do you -- i rank this to say -- >> i've seen from those who should know better. i've seen it from those from whom i cannot understand it.

to hear this from a man who has earned his money los angeles all years, lost a lawsuit from the justice department for refusing to rent in bloacks. he says it's cultural. what culture? he is a jewish man. who should be more understanding than a jewish man? i'm shocked. i know donald sterling. he has a party every year. he has a wife of over 50 years, but he has girlfriends all the time. he has never sold a piece of property ever. never sold anything. but he is externally really cheap. a friend of mine was with him billionman worth $1.9 -- true story -- they are in a drugstore filling it prescription and the drug is comes back and says that is eight dollars. what? does what1 eight --

eight dollars? give me the generic. that is the kind of mind we are dealing with here. have told ones that i with and i have gone from the and on down, this is way up there. most like folks are being honest, they would admit this, but you hear a new story that is breaking and, before you can get the details, you are just hoping it's not somebody black. i hope the stories not about somebody black and you know where i'm going with this. you are subject to the bernie made off -- you are a victim. >> i got the money back. black the penultimate

mark for the jews is bernie madoff. >> i'm glad he changed his name. [laughter] always think that cometh a story breaks and it is bad, that it is not a jew. of aure, if you hear shooting at a school -- tavis: don't let it be a black eye. >> and you know it's not going to be a black guy. black guys do not shoot up schools. schools in harlem do not get shot up. i think we have only had one black serial killer. and they had that sniper. tavis: back in d.c. >> the one thing the jews have had better than blacks is a pr system. the late gottfried cambridge told me once, man, he says, if a

story breaks that's good, like they cured polio, the first thing i hear is jewish dr. cured polio. you get that before you hear the cure. whenever anything good happens. question, you big covered this many times in your career. what do you make of black-jewish relations in 2014. this is a story that has opened up all kinds of conversations. what is your take of what you make in the country now of the love relationship or lack thereof between blacks and jews? blackse was a time when did not like the jews did not stand up more for them. there was an anti-civil rights pointer view, which is a board to me as a jew -- which is abhorrent to me as a jew.

remember jesse jackson once made a bad reference to jews. i don't sense in the jewish community anything like that. i would say it's gone. >> have you heard anything like that? jewish-black relationships i think are fine. tavis: what's ironic about this is there is someone who overheard jesse make that remark. so jesse got outed in the same way that donald sterling got outed. but theres on tape, was a reporter who heard jesse make this derogatory remark about jews. >> maybe it is the way we were raised. i've never understood. i have asked this question since i started in 1957. i never understood prejudice, which means to prejudge. to prejudge is stupid. i don't like this.

i won't look at this. at itf i looked monetarily, as ross perot once told me, forget morality. the insanity in the south of building two bathrooms when you only needed one built -- the south used to bus white children far away if they live too close to a black school. it was insane. i remember my daughter, she went to montessori school in florida. and she came home one day crying. she was five years old. what? i want to be black. why? was inlson's daughter her school and they had a field trip to the beach and they wouldn't let my daughter go out in the sun. she had to sit in the shade because she was very fair while

flip wilson's daughter was playing on the beach. so she wanted to be black. it shows you how stupid the whole idea -- why don't we buy coppertone? [laughter] it's just a -- when i landed in miami to go to work, i broke into miami. i got off a train, came down from new york, and i had never seen prejudice in new york city. never seen it. never the scene anything in the culture like it. and there is a water fountain that says "colored." and i drank out of it. it was very good. it was cold. so i get on the bus and i go to my uncle's apartment. the bus driver stops the bus and says, you, move forward. why? the back of the buses for negroes. the front of the buses for whites. >> my father -- so i yelled

back, my father is negro. [laughter] prejudice,dea of people who didn't stand up for it, as martin luther king once said, the most segregated hour in america is 11:00 sunday morning. any religion that had a segregated synagogue or segregated church is abominable to make, inexcusable. i never heard a defense of it. it never made any sense to me. and the waste of money and time and effort in racism is absurd. how anyone could think that in the year 2014 is beyond me. tavis: we will see -- >> how it all plays out. tavis: in the months and years to come. wem always troubled, when have these moments, there ought to be rich and ripe for the

country to sink its teeth into, to have some real conversations about this issue, whether it is donald sterling or trayvon martin. we punt every time. it is therefore is to have a national conversation and we can't seem to get it together. >> what makes this conversation that 80% of the people employed are black. this is a white owner with a slave mentality. with wealthy blacks. we are not talking about the sharecropper son. we are talking about chris paul making $24 million. and their dilemma of i'm under contract to play for this guy, but -- so, that is what makes the story different from all other stories. tavis: you have no idea how many conversations i have been in since this story broke about what responsibility chris paul

and blake griffin and others on the team have. because if this were some decades ago, we know what mohammed ali would have done because he did it. we know what bill russell would have done because he did it. we know what jackie robinson would have done because he did it. and we know what curt flood would have done because he did it. there are so many conversations i have been in about what the responsibility was of this team and whether or not it was their responsibility to do something or the nba. it is not either or cared it is both and. to be players don't want seen as million dollar slaves, they have to do something. >> mohammed ally was not contracted. independent negotiator. but the times are different and mohammed ali is a great story. he is separate and apart. these guys were making $25

million with homes in bel air. they weren't. they were out on the streets. they might have made a little more money than the average guy. what is the most money that bill russell ever made? chris paul's kid flies on a private plane. >> but what does that have to do with courage and conviction in commitment? is there a price for that? >> i don't know the answer and it's easy to say i would give that up. would i give that up? i don't know the answer to that. -- are of courage who do you? saying that chris paul should could basketball? took: initially, when they their jerseys and turned them inside out, that was not enough for me. >> you may not play, forfeit? tavis: i would not have been bothered by that only because, it seems to me, when you are dealing with a racial arsonist and a slumlord like donald

sterling, the only thing that is effective is money. you have to hit this man where it hurts. i don't believe that any of us are beyond redemption. dr. king used to say there is some evil in the best of us and some good in the worst of us. none of us are human and divine. we are just human. but we have a responsibility in sport to make a statement that advances society, that advances a conversation, that calls for justin logan of sacrifice. maybe you lose a -- that calls for just a little bit of sacrifice. maybe you lose a little bit of money. i think a bigger statement could have been made. >> maybe they could have canceled the games that day so as not to deprive the players of a chance to be a champion. tavis: a good jew, sandy koufax, didn't pitch -- >> on his holiday. tavis: his conviction was so deep he wouldn't pitch. -- all of these

players, since six years old, if they played basketball, dreamed of being in the nba and then you dreamed of winning a championship. and then to have this 180 to take that chance away from you -- this one idiot to take that chance away from you. and the fans. it is an importantly important -- it is unimportantly important. [laughter] [applause] why does it matter to me if the dodgers lose? why am i depressed? but these fans have invested an entire season of basketball and they are going to the games, watching the games, cheering. and now through this idiot who happens to own the team, i don't get the chance -- tavis: i think it was earl warren, i think, who once said this -- and i think it answers

your question about why it matters to us. morning, i read the sports pages first -- i am paraphrasing -- because they tell me a man's accomplishments. and what turns me on about sport, on any given day, it says to me that i am capable of greatness, too, in my own world. this athlete worked hard and pulled this thing off and i can, too. >> the one thing -- i have always admired athletes -- that they face that we don't face, winning or losing. the cheering stops when you're 35. the cheering stops and you will aser do more in your life you did up to age 35 by playing ball, something you did free as a kid and got paid for as an adult. and there is a final score. we lost 6-5.

that athlete puts his head down and faces it every day he goes to the hunt. and as for the fan, george will, a wonderful writer, i asked george -- george, how important is baseball to you? and he said, if the headline in "the washington post" read george will's secret sex life revealed, i would first turn to the cubs box score. [laughter] yous: let me congratulate on the second year in a row you getting a webbie nomination? >> i am new to the world of the internet. i did the first national radio show on a network in 1978. i did the first cable worldwide cnn.on the satellite on and now i am carrying on on the

internet partnered with carlos slim, doing an internet show. we hit 4 million viewers in march. it is a whole world, but it is new to me. if you came to me and say you are nominated for a webby. an emmyinute, i have and this is the thrill of my life. i've got a webby nomination. i went to the webby awards. it is a wonderful organization. they are all 21 years old. [laughter] and there are 7000 shows. the titles are lma" nominated for "what we build in the garage." i like to win.

you always want to win. so i am numb and -- so i am honored to be a pioneer. when i got my star on the hollywood walk of fame, that was a great thrill. but my greatest thrill is to go to yours. i've known you for a long time and you have always been kind to me. we have a special, indelible thing. i would pick you to replace me at cnn, you or ryan seacrest, one or the other. familiar name, good host, and an easy segue as opposed to what they chose. but when i stood there and you got your star on the hollywood walk of fame, i felt so happy for you. in jewish, we have a great thrill when someone else has something good happen to them. we like it. kvllo.

they are better words than in which words. it is to get joy from seeing somebody else happy. that reminds me of an old joke. do you know why jewish women do not open their eyes during sex? can't stand someone else having pleasure. [laughter] [applause] i don't know how i got to that? i was thrilled beyond words -- i am still struggling to find a language -- to have you and jay leno. didn't know you were either mormon or class like -- mormon or catholic until i met the whole family. the mormons were pioneers. it was like a bar mitzvah. tavis: you talking about my nine brothers and sisters. >> where are you in the pecking order? tavis: at the top.

family met larry king, i said, be cool. do not bum rush him. it was a great time for everybody. >> it was a wonderful day. tavis: congrats on your second webby award. >> i want you to come back on my show for the monolithic a book. tavis: it comes out this summer. >> was it hard to dig up a lot of stuff? tavis: some of the stuff in the book is new, about the last year in his life. but the last 12 months we don't know about so some of the stuff is new. some of the stuff is hidden in plain sight. the scholars have done a lot of this research. no one has taken all of the research and put it in one book looking at just the last 12

months and have a country turned on him. we love him today, but on the last year of his life, we turned on him. he talked about racism, poverty, and militarism. vietnam got him in trouble. >> i remember an incident once at a church in new york and a black kid got up. he said, oh, here comes the god thing. he didn't want to hear that. i'm anxious to read it. that a book was being published, "death of a king," i looked in the mirror and said, i'm alive. [laughter] tavis: that is why you are welcome here anytime. congratulations on the webby two years in a row. you are 80, man. >> and i'm doing a radio thing in the morning. and i also do larry king at bat on the new dodger network.

which is seen in 15% of the homes because they can't get a deal. tavis: they will. when are you sleeping? >> i sleep pretty good. i have two kids a home, 15 and 14. they are both athletes. and i got a young wife. i always say the same thing. when people see us together, i know what they think. i always say the same thing, if she dies, she dies. [laughter] i'll get another girl. tavis: and that's our show for the night. thanks for watching. as always, keep the faith. >> for more information on today's show, visit tavis smiley at pbs.org. tavis: hi, i'm tavis smiley. join me next time for a conversation with roberts on her new memoir. that's next time. we will see you then.

>> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> be more. pbs. pbs.

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